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Battle of the Moisturisers (Part 1)

During my quest for the perfect skincare products, which you can read about here, I found myself lacking a dream moisturiser. Suffering from combination/oily skin I have always been afraid of moisturisers in case they made my skin appear greasy or heaven forbid actually caused breakouts. Now I know there are many oil-free moisturisers to combat this, but I find these can cause the opposite problem and make my skin feel dry. So here I am with a great cleanser, exfoliator and facial oil with no moisturiser to go with them.

That’s where the battle of the moisturisers comes in! Every month I will try a new moisturiser and then compare two at the end of the 8 weeks. One will then be eliminated, and I will continue in this fashion until I find the perfect moisturiser! The one moisturiser to rule them all!!!!! Ok, I’m getting a little over excited so best get down to business and compare my first two moisturisers.

I received this sample of Caudalie Polyphenol C15 in my July BirchBox.

Since you have to fill in a beauty profile with BirchBox I am always confident any products that are delivered will be tailored to my needs. Caudalie Polyphenol C15 specifies for use with normal to combination skin, so this immediately ticks the skin type box for me. This moisturiser claims to correct wrinkles, protect against free radicals and other external pollutants, all while keeping skin hydrated and fresh.

The texture is lovely, and the easy to use tube allows good control of how much you want to apply. It isn’t overly thick (no worries for my oily skin) and absorbs really quickly without leaving any residue.

It does have quite a strong scent that reminds me of sherbet. It isn’t completely overwhelming but I do prefer my skincare to have a more subtle fragrance.

Initially I only started using this because I received it in my Birchbox and didn’t want it to go to waste, but as the days went on, every morning I found myself looking forward to applying this, and including this moisturiser in my daily routine. It makes my skin feel soft and moisturised all day and the added SPF20 is a real bonus!

Next up is the Triple Performing Facial Emulsion SPF15 by Benefit.

Right firstly I have to admit a few things. I hate the word emulsion used in beauty. As a scientist it conjures up images of fat droplets which is never that appealing, but yes that is me being pedantic. Secondly, although this was the only moisturiser I used for four weeks, I didn’t use it every day. In fact I went quite a few days where I skipped moisturising all together because I really wasn’t a fan of this. Sorry Benefit!

To start the awkward glass bottle makes it difficult to get out, and you have to bang it on the bottom like ketchup which means you end up with too much product on your hands making it quite a messy ordeal. The texture of this moisturiser just exacerbates this problem as it is a very runny liquid.

However, if it was going to do wonders for my skin, all would be forgiven. Sadly, this was never to be. Once applied to my face, I found it needed at least twenty minutes before I could apply my foundation (time I expect no one has in the morning!), and even then I still felt like it left a sticky residue on my skin. The only positive I have is that I do feel it moisturised my skin to some extent, as my skin never felt dry throughout the day. I think this moisturiser may be more suited to young teenage skin, without any problem areas or skin concerns.

As you can see, Caudalie Polyphenol C15 Protect Fluid is the clear winner. Does that mean my hunt for the perfect moisturiser is over already!?

Well no. As much as I enjoyed using the Caudalie moisturiser, I didn’t get that wow factor that I got when I found my perfect cleanser and for me beauty really is like finding a partner, they can be funny, good looking and charming but if that chemistry is not there, they will never be the one.